Bōsai Musen: Japan’s 5 PM Chime
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 16, 2020
The loudspeaker of Japan’s national disaster warning system in Owkudani Hakone, Japan. Photo: WAN CHEUK NANG/Shutterstock.com For those ...
Showing posts with the label Culture
Black Weddings: Marrying in The Time of Cholera
Kaushik Patowary
May 5, 2020
Last month, a peculiar wedding ceremony took place at a cemetery in Bnei Brak, a city in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. With government re...
Ama: The Freediving Fisherwomen of Japan
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 23, 2020
In ancient times, the only way to gather food and other resources, such as sponge and pearl, from the sea bed was to hold one’s breath and d...
Nyepi: Bali’s Day of Silence
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 3, 2020
Every year, towards the end of March, the entire island of Bali in Indonesia, goes into standstill. Flights are grounded, shops remain close...
Run Out of Toilet Paper? Use a Stick
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 25, 2020
Hoarding toilet paper. Photo: DigitalMammoth/Shutterstock.com Chances are, you’ve run out of toilet paper, unless you are the type who b...
The Indian Perfume That Smells Like Rain
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 3, 2020
Rainwater flows down a roof. Photo: Anna Nikonorova/Shutterstock.com Love that musky, fresh smell of earth that permeates the air when t...
The Newspaper That is Published Only on 29th February
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 2, 2020
The French newspaper, La Bougie du Sapeur, has been publishing for the last 40 years. Yet, there has been only eleven issues so far. Why? ...
Autumn Harvest Drying in Huangling
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 15, 2020
Huangling in Wuyuan County, in east China's Jiangxi Province, is a small picturesque village built on the hillside, surrounded by specta...
Creepy Victorian Christmas Cards
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 24, 2019
Victorian Christmas cards were a mixed bag of iconography, ranging from religious to everyday things. But one theme common in these season...
The Pigeon Breeders of Cairo
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 3, 2019
Perched on rooftops across Cairo, like water tanks on elevated platforms, are rickety wooden cages where Cairenes keep their pigeons. Pigeo...
Letters Q, W, And X Were Once Illegal in Turkey
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 28, 2019
An alternative spelling for taxi in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo credit: Jürgen Luger/Flickr In 1928, the Turkish government decided to change ...
Fishing With Sulphuric Fire
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 23, 2019
Many fishes are attracted towards light just as moths and flying ants are—a behavior that fishermen around the world exploit to bring them t...
Mizuko Kuyo: The Japanese Ritual of Mourning The Unborn
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 21, 2019
Losing a child can be very painful, even if that child is yet to be born. In fact, many parents who experienced miscarriages feel the pain i...
The Hanging Coffins of China And Philippines
Kaushik Patowary
May 30, 2019
The ancient Bo and Guyue people of southern China did not bury their dead. Instead, they hung their coffins from tall cliffs. This peculiar ...
Human Decomposition in Japanese Artwork
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 29, 2019
In traditional Buddhist teachings, contemplating about death is an integral part of meditation. Buddha himself said that death is “the gre...
The Adorable Custom of ‘Telling The Bees’
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 23, 2019
The bee friend, a painting by Hans Thoma (1839–1924) There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a stra...
Somalia’s Hand Painted Storefronts
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 12, 2019
Many businesses and shopkeepers in Somalia—which is one of the world’s poorest nations—cannot afford luxuries such as backlit signs and viny...
Vardo: The Opulent Caravans of The Gypsies
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 29, 2019
Living in trailer homes is largely an American culture , but the history of mobile homes originated in Europe. The first trailer home owne...
The Roadside Shrines of Greece
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 4, 2019
Roadside shrines erected in memory of those who lost their lives in road accidents are a common sight across Greece. They are found next to ...
When Little Boys Wore Dresses
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 12, 2019
Until about a century ago, in the western world, you couldn’t tell whether a young child was a girl or a boy from the way he or she dressed....
